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March 24, 1964 w. R. BLACK ETAL 3,125,769

HOSPITAL BED HAVING A REMOVABLE SIDE GUARD STRUCTURE Filed July 5, 1962 INVENTORS Warren E. .Bladli Irvin 6-F0lger 3 Robez' L.Kna WITNESS BY W 78 a s S @wwm ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,125,769 HOSPITAL BED HAVING A REMOVABLE smE GUARD STRUCTURE I Warren R. Black, Irving C. Foiger, and Robert L. Knapp,

Grand Rapids, Mich, assignors to American Seating fornpany, Grand Rapids, Mich, a corporation of New ersey Filed July 5, 1962, Ser. No. 207,632 Claims. (Cl. 5-331 The present invention relates to a hospital bed having a removable side guard structure.

The primary objects of the invention are to provide an improved side guard structure which can quickly and easily be attached to and detached from a hospital bed;

to provide such a structure which, when attached to a bed, provides a side guard which can quickly and easily be shifted between positions of use and non-use, while remaining at all times in the same vertical plane so as to occupy a minimum of space alongside the bed; to

provide such a side guard structure which is especially sturdy in construction and free from sidewise movement and rattle; and in general to provide such a structure which is convenient and efiicient in its intended use, reasonably economical in construction and attractive in appearance.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a hospital bed having a pair of the new side guards mounted thereon,

the guards being here shown in their upwardly and rearwardly moved positions of use;

FIGURE 2 is a similar perspective view with the side guards in their downwardly and forwardly moved positions of non-use;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of the new side guard structure per se with the side guard in its elevated position of use;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view of the same taken on line d4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary, front eleva tional View of parts of the new side guard structure mounted on the side rail of a bed;

FIGURE 9 is similar'view with certain parts shown in different moved positions;

FIGURE 10 is a similar view with said parts shown in other moved positions;

FIGURE 11 is an inside elevational view of parts of the side guard structure seen in FIGURE 8, shown here per se; and

FIGURE 12 is a vertical sectional view of parts of the structure taken on line 1212 of FIGURE 7.

Referring now in detail to this drawing, the hospital bed 12 shown in FIGURE 1 is equipped with a pair of the new side guard structures, one on each side of the bed and shown in this view in raised positions of use. The structures are identical except for being made in rights and lefts; hence only one of them, the nearest one as seen in FIGURE 1, is illustrated and described herein in detail.

Each side rail 13 of the bed, shown in fragmentary said upper and lower stretches.

3,125,769; Patented Mar. 24, 1964 vertical section in FIGURES 8-10, is provided with a pair of longitudinally spaced, vertically extending, upwardly opening, cylindrical socket members 14. A mounting frame 15 is provided by means of which the side guard structure is mounted on the side rail 13 of the bed. This mounting frame 15 comprises a length of metal rod or tubing bent to form a horizontally extending upper portion 16 and front and rear leg portions 17, 18 depending from the opposite ends of said upper portion 16 and removably received in the socket members 14 of the bed side rail. Front and rear mounting brackets 19, 20 are secured to the mounting frame 15 at the upper front and rear corners thereof.

Front and rear supporting links 21, 22 have their lower or rearward ends pivotally mounted on the front and rear mounting brackets 1?, 29 respectively by means of bolts 23, 24 which pass inwardly through aligned aper tures in the links 21, 22, the mounting brackets 19, 20 and collars 25 secured as by welding to said brackets, and which bolts have nuts 26 threaded on their inner ends (see FIGURES 8-11). The links 21, 22 are thus swingable in parallelism between upright positions as seen in FIGURE 3 and forwardly extending positions as seen in FIGURE 6.

A quadrilateral tubular metal side guard 27 has upper and lower stretches 28, 29 respectively, connected by spaced vertical bars 30, 31 which span the frame between The vertical bars 30, 31 are spaced apart the same distance as the mounting brackets 19, 2t) and the upper or forward ends of the links 21,

22 are pivotally connected to the vertical bars 30, 31

respectively by means of bolts 32 and nuts 33. There is desirably provided a vertical, tubular metal center strut 34 in the side guard 27 to make the side guard more rigid.

It will be seen that the side guard 27 is swingable on the supporting links 21, 22 between a downwardly and forwardly moved position of non-use as seen in FIGURES 2 and 6 and an upwardlyand rearwardly moved position of use as seen in FIGURES 1 and 3. The side guard is stopped at both of these limits of swinging movement by contact of a stop pin 35 on the front link 21 with the ends of an arcuate raceway 36 in the front mounting bracket 19.

Cooperating latch means are provided on the front vertical bar 30 of the side guard and the front supporting link 21 for positively, but releasably, maintaining the side guard in its upwardly and rearwardly moved position of use. These latch means comprise a spring leaf 37 having its upper end secured to the front vertical bar 30 by the same bolt 32 and nut 33 which pivotally connect the front link 21 and the vertical bar 30. The spring leaf 37 is on the outside of the vertical bar 30, i.e. on the side opposite to the link 21. A latch pin 38 on the lower end of the spring leaf 37 extends inwardly through an aperture 39 in the vertical bar 30 and is urged by the leaf spring into an opening 40 in the front supporting link 21, which opening 46 registers with aperture 39 when the side guard is in its upwardly and rearwardly moved position of use.

A knob 41 is provided on the outer lower end of the spring leaf 37 by means of which the latch pin 38 may be manually withdrawn from the opening 40 in the supporting link 21 to permit movement of the side guard 27 to its downwardly and forwardly moved position of nonuse. The inner end of the latch pin 38 is provided with a cam surface 4-2 (see FIGURE 5a) whereby the pin is cammed outwardly by the supporting link 21 to permit passage of said link 21 in the final phase of the links swinging movement to its upright position.

Keeper means are provided for detachably maintaining the mounting frame 15 in position on the side rail 13 of the bed. These means comprise a U-shaped bracket 43 secured to the rear mounting bracket on which bracket 43 is mounted a pivot pin 44. A keeper member 45 is swingably mounted on the pivot pin 4-4 and has a depending hook portion 46 adapted to engage beneath a flange 47 on the bed side rail 13 as seen in FIGURE 8. This positively prevents removal of the side guard structure from the bed unless the attendant wishes to remove it, for which purpose a finger lever 48 is provided on the keeper member 45 by means of which this member 45 can be rotated as seen in FIGURE 9 and the mounting frame 15 can be lifted out of the sockets 14 in the bed side rail 13.

It will thus be seen that the invention provides a simple, sturdy and efficient side guard structure for attachment to a hospital bed, and while but one specific embodiment of the invention has been herein shown and described it will be understood that numerous details thereof might be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a hospital bed having a removable side guard structure:

a bed side rail having a pair of longitudinally spaced, vertically extending, upwardly opening, cylindrical socket members;

a mounting frame comprising a length of metal tubing bent to form a horizontally extending upper portion, and leg portions depending from the opposite ends of said upper portion and removably receivable in the socket members of said bed side rail;

front and rear mounting brackets secured to the mounting frame at the upper front and rear corners thereof;

front and rear supporting links having their lower or rearward ends pivotally mounted on said front and rear mounting brackets respectively, said links being swingable in parallelism between upright positions and forwardly extending positions; and

a side guard having horizontally extending upper and lower stretches connected by spaced vertical bars, said bars having the upper or forward ends of the front and rear supporting links pivotally connected thereto respectively, whereby the side guard may be swung on the supporting links between a downwardly and forwardly moved position of non-use and an upwardly and rearwardly moved position of use.

2. A hospital bed according to claim 1 characterized by including:

a keeper pivotally mounted on one of said mounting brackets for swinging movement to and from a position of engagement beneath said bed side rail for detachably maintaining the mounting frame in position on said rail.

3. In a hospital bed having a removable side guard structure:

a bed side rail having a pair of longitudinally spaced, vertically extending, upwardly opening, cylindrical socket members;

a mounting frame comprising a length of metal tubing bent to form a horizontally extending upper portion, and leg portions depending from the opposite ends of said upper portion and removably receivable in the socket members of said bed side rail;

front and rear mounting brackets secured to the mounting frame at the upper front and rear corners thereof;

front and rear supporting links having their lower or rearward ends pivotally mounted on said front and rear mounting brackets respectively, said links being swingable in parallelism between upright positions and forwardly extending positions; and

a quadrilateral tubular metal side guard having horizontally extending upper and lower stretches and a pair of vertical bars spanning the side guard between said upper and lower stretches, said bars being spaced apart the same distance as the mounting brackets and having the upper or forward ends of the front and rear supporting links pivotally connected thereto respectively, whereby the side guard may be swung on the supporting links between a downwardly and forwardly moved position of non-use and an upwardly and rearwardly moved position of use.

4. In a hospital bed having a removable side guard structure:

a bed side rail having a pair of longitudinally spaced, vertically extending, upwardly opening, cylindrical socket members;

a mounting frame comprising a length of metal tubing bent to form a horizontally extending upper portion, and leg portions depending from the opposite ends of said upper portion and removably receivable in the socket members of said bed side rail;

front and rear mounting brackets secured to the mounting frame at the uper front and rear corners thereof;

front and rear supporting links having their lower or rearward ends pivotally mounted on said front and rear mounting brackets respectively, said links being swingable in parallelism between upright positions and forwardly extending positions; and

a side guard having pivotal connections with the upper or forward ends of the front and rear supporting links, whereby the side guard may be swung on the supporting links between a downwardly and forwardly moved position of non-use and an upwardly and rearwardly moved position of use.

5. A hospital bed according to claim 4 in which:

the side guard is constituted by a quadrilateral frame having at least one member spanning the frame and adapted for attachment to the upper or forward ends of said front and rear supporting links.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,817,855 Pratt Dec. 31, 1957 2,929,078 Smith Mar. 22, 1960 

1. IN A HOSPITAL BED HAVING A REMOVABLE SIDE GUARD STRUCTURE: A BED SIDE RAIL HAVING A PAIR OF LONGITUDINALLY SPACED, VERTICALLY EXTENDING, UPWARDLY OPENING, CYLINDRICAL SOCKET MEMBERS; A MOUNTING FRAME COMPRISING A LENGTH OF METAL TUBING BENT TO FORM A HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING UPPER PORTION, AND LEG PORTIONS DEPENDING FROM THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID UPPER PORTION AND REMOVABLY RECEIVABLE IN THE SOCKET MEMBERS OF SAID BED SIDE RAIL; FRONT AND REAR MOUNTING BRACKETS SECURED TO THE MOUNTING FRAME AT THE UPPER FRONT AND REAR CORNERS THEREOF; FRONT AND REAR SUPPORTING LINKS HAVING THEIR LOWER OR REAWARD ENDS PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID FRONT AND REAR MOUNTING BRACKETS RESPECTIVELY, SAID LINKS BEING SWINGABLE IN PARALLISM BETWEEN UPRIGHT POSITIONS AND FORWARDLY EXTENDING POSITIONS; AND A SIDE GUARD HAVING HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING UPPER AND LOWER STRETCHES CONNECTED BY SPACED VERTICAL BARS, SAID BARS HAVING THE UPPER OR FORWARD ENDS OF THE FRONT AND REAR SUPPORTING LINKS PIVOTALLY CONNECTED THERETO RESPECTIVELY, WHEREBY THE SIDE GUARD MAY BE SWUNG ON THE SUPPORTING LINKS BETWEEN A DOWNWARDLY AND FORWARDLY MOVED POSITION OF NON-USE AND AN UPWARDLY AND REAWARDLY MOVED POSITION OF USE. 